. Oldlae: Thanks for that bit of information. Sounds like Tommy Jr. was a bit of a character.
If you worked at Redders during that time do you have any recollections of an aircraft we refer to as the 'Dancer' (G-AYTF) which was owned by Hickstead Jumping Ground developer Douglas Bunn from 1971 to 1979. Evidently the Dancer was also maintained by Bristows.
The Dancer in 'Alan's shoppe' at Redders c. 1978
I.I. Good God! I recall my godfather telling me about a chap who had his finger chopped off while doing something or other. Was that really Tommy Sopwith!
I genuinely think it was Tommy, I will do some more checking just in case my memory is playing tricks on me.
Douglas Bunn was personal friends with Alan Bristow, Alan used to have a corporate Bristow "box" at Hickstead and used to enter the carriage driving events when they were held.
Alan often used to be flown to Hickstead in a 206 from the FTS. Pilots used to try to avoid flying with him as he always wanted to take the controls (not a problem in itself, he was a good stick) but the trip to Hickstead encompassed a transit through the Gatwick Control Zone and Alan didn't like to have to hold for clearance, putting immense pressure on the pilot "in command" and his future career.
. Lol! Great stuff I.I. Alan was of course well known for his habit of 'having a go' and I suppose that most of us would do exactly the same if we were in his shoes.
Crossing Gatwick could, as you say, often involve delays and it was for this reason that my godfather regularly arranged for Gatwick's controllers to visit the beehive (usually on Saturdays) with their families in order to take them for a spin. Over the years the LGW controllers developed an informal 'priority arrangement' for Ferranti's fleet based on their familiarity with the airfield's operations given that it was their home base. In practice this meant that Ferranti aircraft would be allowed slightly more leniency (pilot's discretion in passing behind a landing craft) when it came to crossing the runway.
Gatwick controllers didn't need to memorise Ferranti's registrations because, along with white gloves and highly polished shoes, Col. Bob insisted that whenever a Ferranti aircraft initiated comms with a new frequency their message was to be prefixed with the words "This is Ferranti Helicopter G- ...." and woe betide anyone who failed to observe this procedure!
Earlier in the thread I related an incident between the Colonel and Douglas Bunn and which I suppose was shortly after Bunn had bought the Dancer.
The Sopwith Files: Tommy Junior
For the benefit of some of the younger Rotorheads we are of course talking about the son of British aviation pioneer Sir Thomas Sopwith (the son of yet another Thomas Sopwith and there are yet futher 'Tom Sopwiths' related to the family and who are still about today) the man behind the production of Britain's foremost fighter aircraft, the Camel and the Hurricane, during two world wars.
Like his father, Tommy Jr. was interested in yachting but later progressed to powerboats (sensible chap). He was also a keen racing driver along with other private flyers including Alan Mann, Ken Gregory and of course our friend Colin Chapman who bought Douglas Bunn's 206 mentioned above.
I don't know whether it was because of the strong association between helicopter flyers and racing drivers that at one point when you became a member of the Helicopter Club you were also given complimentary access to the Steering Wheel Club - or was it that the latter accommodated the former under some arrangement due to the club's lack of premises? I just don't remember.
As with several distinguished gentleman flyers in the 70's, Sopwith's preferred vehicle of choice for scouting about the country was a Bell 206 Jet Ranger. Thinking about it, I suppose that Peter Cadbury and 'Air Pegasus' would have been one of the closest contemparies to Tommy.
Tommy Sopwith races his powerboat the Avenger in 1970. Though he raced with the number '400' the wording on the back of the boat (partially obscured by sea spray) reads "Double-O-Seven"
Sopwith Jr. (right) stands with Sir Max Aitken founder of the Cowes-Torquay boat race.
A more recent image of Tommy Sopwith although I don't have details of the year in which this was taken.
Hadn't heard the story about Tommy Sopwith's finger.
I think he was one of the memorable figures of the 60-70s helicopter scene along with Alan Bristow, The Cad, Alan Mann, Sox, Charles Hughesdon, Tony Everard and of course your Godfather (non exhaustive list before I get abuse).
Yes, G-AYTF was maintained by BHL FTS, went to Hickstead a couple of times where the machine was housed in an old barn with rails going out to a platform on wheels for landing on. Douglas once had an engine failure and landed in a sewage farm near Worcester Green near Epsom, you can imagine the language when he told what he had landed in. The engine compressor had failed through corrosion, I am sure that that incident initiated the 600 hr physical inspection of the compressor mandated by the CAA and more frequent compressor washing.
. Great stuff Oldlae! So .. the Dancer had an engine-out before the one with the Colonel and I! Well, she seems to have come through them all fairly well.
Sebastian de Ferranti also had a motorised helipad which retracted into his hangar; although I don't recall which house.
It would be wonderful to hear more recollections of Sopwith Jr. and Endeavour Aviation and to discover images of the remainder of his fleet, especially his rotorcraft: G-AVZG, G-GINA and G-IINA.
I've been quietly enjoying this thread for sometime now, and I would like to thank all the contributors - it's been an education.
I certainly remember seeing G-GINA / G-IINA and Shoreham Airport on a fairly regular basis in the late 1980's (when I were a lad). Can't say much more than that other than I thought that it was something to do with Recardo's engineering as it always seemed parked close to their building. I am prepared to accept that this information is very wrong now!
Beside his beloved Enstrom's Dennisimo has been involved with a number of Hughes' also (along with a plethora of other types one should add).
With this first craft I'm just taking a stab at it because I actually don't know whether Dennisimo was involved but .. a couple of pages back we uncovered the little Enstrom F28 G-BAAU which Dennis sold to Colin Chapman.
Now BAAU's first owner was John E. Clark & Co. of Gecco House, Bournemouth who owned her from August 1972 to Januray 1974. What I have discovered is that the same lot bought a Hughes 500 (369) in November 1973 (just prior to selling BAAU).
The craft they bought was previously owned by Autair but, given that Clark/e's (spelled without an 'e' in the first registration document for BAAU and with an 'e' in the second - for the 500) were one of Dennis' clients I'm assuming he may have had something to do with the sale.
Either way Clark/e's traded-up to a 500 which they operated from November '73 until the end of 1975 when the record states the craft was destroyed. Clark/e's 500 was registered as G-BAYN but, I am unable to trace any information relating to the accident report and I wonder .. is there an exhaustive list of UK aircraft accidents? My experience (of which BAYN is but one example) is that there are inconsistencies.
Hughes 500C G-BAYN at Lee-on-Solent on 8th July 1975 (Photo: Brian Johnstone)
We've previously discussed Barry Sheene's Hughes 500C G-STEF and which we know Dennisimo sold him. However, prior to being named after Barry's wife, G-STEF existed as G-BKTK which was bought by Southern Air in June of 1983. She is then registered to 'Suflinks Holdings' (what a name) in the Channel Islands prior to being re-registered as STEF.
While in her original colours she sports an intriguing piece of artwork on her tail which appears to be some sort of creature standing atop what looks like a horizontally placed barber's pole!
I can only hope that the Maestro can fill in the gaps!
Hughes 500C G-BKTK at Shoreham c. 1983 (Photo: Andy Parsons)
MB: Welcome aboard!
What I can tell you is that courtesy of the Nostalgia Thread's leading discoverer of difficult-to-come-by helicopter images, we shall soon be graced with images of most of Sopwith's rotorcraft.
You mention seeing some of the Sopwith fleet at Shoreham in the 80's and the image above is also from Shoreham. Dennisimo was of course based there for an appreciable time along with my godfather for a short season.
Shoreham, so they say, is the UK's oldest licenced airfield and has appeared in numerous television and film productions due mainly to its classical terminal. They say that scenes from the Da Vinci Code were also shot there but I am trying to think which ones those may be. My understanding was that Hanks & co. used a 125 which taxiied into a hangar - was that Shoreham?
I thought the logo looked like part of a coat of arms and wondered if it was that of the notorious Marquess of Bristol. A quick look at the Bristol coat of arms proves the point; the image on G-BKTK is the crest (i.e. the top of the arms). Bristol, Marquess of (UK, 1826)
John Hervey, 7th Marquess, (1954-1999) (Earl Jermyn until he inherited the title in 1985) was the epitome of the "mad bad and dangerous to know" aristocrat who went through the family fortune in a tidal wave of over indulgence, in particular drugs.
Apparently at the controls of his helicopter 'He was an inspired pilot. He couldn't do radar, though. He would steer by an AA map on his knees, while snorting coke off the map. And he would order that all the lights at Ickworth be turned on when he was getting back.'
'Once, after a major bender, he went out to his helicopter, he didn't bother to check anything, he got into it and just went straight up. He didn't notice that there were clouds, he went straight up and came out at the top. There he was, sitting in a helicopter with a blanket of white puffy clouds beneath him. He said he looked around, put it on auto-pilot. He had a cocktail shaker in the cockpit, so he shook himself a Bloody Mary, had a couple of lines of coke and called the control tower in Cambridge. And somehow he came down, going sideways at 150mph and, without crashing, he landed.'
One night he went for a flight in his Hughes at his country estate, Ickworth House. This was after a dinner that included 2 or 3 bottles of claret and a pint of port. After a groggy, hesitant ascent, it then veered forward and up, hovering no more than 80ft above ground. He turned on the searchlight illuminating the part of the house occupied by an employee of the National Trust, to whom he had been obliged to sell the house and estate. Moments later, a squawking, demented cacophony erupted as Bristol screamed: 'I hate you, you b*****d. You b*****d. I hate you, you f*****g b*****d - wake up, you b*****d.'
In 1988 the Jersey police found 13g of coke in his helicopter at St Helier. He did seven months in the island gaol. This wasn't G-BKTK, more likely his later Hughes 500 G-BMJV
Not the best role model but certainly a character.
I wonder if Dennis K has any other stories about the Marquess.
One of 'Mr Sopwiths' better creations, this is a Sopwith Baby replica produced by the year of apprentices that I had the honour of learning with, I'm in the picture I'll let you guess which one, we all met the ledgenry Tommy Sopwith at the presentation, you can imagine the effect on a 17 year old avaition trainee!!!!
. I must say that this page has given me considerable satisfaction as the deliberations on Tommy Sopwith have continued with a reminder of his 'finger chopping' incident as well as the further general comments.
Oldlae's memories involving Douglas Bunn (Hickstead Jumping Ground owner) and the additional history behind the 'Dancer', an aircraft of special significance to me, have also been immensely enjoyable.
DeHavilland's recollections of the Marquess of Bristol are, in a word, classic; and while reading them I imagined myself to be transported back to the days of my youth when at the Colonel's home on Crockham Hill (less than a mile from Winston's beloved Chartwell House) he would regale my father (with the aid of copious quantities of some fine liquor and a plentiful supply of Habanos) with all manner of stories involving various characters from the UK's aviation fraternity.
Regarding Stacey, he did of course give us a prelude to the form of his countenance in post #574 on page 29 but .. in this latest offering he is somewhat younger! I would hazard a guess and say that he's either directly below the roundel or one of the two dark-haired chaps near the centre of the group.
Stacey's project with the others of his year must have been a tremendous undertaking, why does the aircraft have an American reg? Was it built from scratch?
I put Stacey (with all the hair) to the far top left of the gathering.
Stacey's project with the others of his year must have been a tremendous undertaking, why does the aircraft have an American reg? Was it built from scratch?
It is not an American registration: it is the original military registration allocated in 1915. There is a composite 'original' at the FAA Museum, RNAS Yeovilton
But this is nothing to do with Rotary Nostalgia, is it
Did not fly but had a donk fitted with no internals, it was a 'Rotary' engine and old!!, so rotary nostalgia!! gedit!! The one in Yeovilton is the one and the same machine, made from parts from Spain and the rest from an Irish bog or so I was led to believe, OLDLAE is correct far left with all the hair.
Today I received a message from a family who are friends of the Aspinall's and who have evidently been reading PPRuNe. Their message conveys the sad news that Bruce Aspinall, who has owned G-CPTS for the past 33 years, passed away on 24th April.
This post is to convey condolences to the Aspinall's and their friends.
Mrs 'K' who wrote to me mentioned that: "The helicopter you have referred to on your forum was to have gone for the helecopter equivalent of an MOT this week."
AgustaBell 206B G-CPTS at Blackpool Squires Gate on 28th April 1984 (Photo: Derek Heley)
G-ATSJ Brantly 305 c/n 1024 registered to T.E.B Sopwith 11.5.66 then to his company Endeavour Aviation 22.12.67 Sold to Alan Mann Racing Ltd 13.11.68 Crashed 24.5.77 during ownership of R.H. Ryan
Another shot of G-ATSJ with some interesting aircraft in background.
G-AVZG Agusta Bell 206A Jetranger c/n 8017 registered to Endeavour Aviation, 12.12.67 Sold to Ernest George Aviation 18.5.73 and eventually went to Canada for spares use !
G-BASE Bell 206B Jetranger II c/n 969 registered to Endeavour Aviation, 8.3.73. Seen on the embankment next to the London City helistop, anyone know what this exhibition was about ? Sold to Air Hanson Ltd, 22.12.78 and has since been registered as G-OCBB and G-TUCH before leaving the UK as 9M-LLT Tommy Sopwith was also chairman of the company operating the helistop
G-GINA AS.350B Ecureuil c/n 1016 registered to Endeavour Aviation, 21.3.78 with personal reg for his wife Sold in the USA as N130FH